The next day, after school, Peter picked Bella up and they headed for Derek's loft.
"Tell me again why I have to come with you?" Bella asked feeling irritated
"Because I don't want to leave you alone with the Alpha pack in town." Peter replied "Anything could happen if I'm not there to look after you. It's better if you stick with me."
"And yet, you leave me alone at school for six hours a day." Bella said in a snarky tone
Peter chuckled "Besides that. Derek needs my help to go over the plans of how to save his betas."
"I thought you didn't have any of your abilities?" Bella raised her eyebrow
"Don't remind me" Peter sighed
When Peter and Bella arrived at the loft, Derek was thrilled to see his little cousin. He had been wanting to talk to her for so long. Derek took notice of Bella's covered up face.
"Hey, you healed up nice." Derek said, pointing at Bella's face.
"Well, I wouldn't say healed," said Peter "More like covering it up with makeup."
"Oh, I guess that'll do. Not a bad idea." said Derek. "How are you doing, cuz?"
Bella nodded back at Derek
"Aren't you going to say something to your cousin?" Peter asked Bella
"Nope. Gonna go do my homework." Bella said as she made her way to the couch.
"Four months and counting. Wonder how long that is going to last." Peter said jokingly
"She hasn't said one word to me." Derek said with his arms crossed
"Just give her some more time." Peter told him "The kid'll come around. Probably won't ever forgive you, though."
"Jeez, thanks." Derek rolled his eyes
"Well, it was sort of your fault to begin with."
"Let's not discuss this again."
After 5pm, Scott and Stiles showed up at the loft. They were looking over the plans of an abandoned bank where Erica and Boyd were being held.
"You see this?" Stiles pointed at the plans. He was explaining how some robbers robbed the bank a few years back. "This is how they got in. It's a rooftop air conditioning vent. Leads down inside into the wall of the vault, which is here. One of the robbers was lowered into this shift. Now the space is so small, it took him about twelve hours to drill into the wall, which is stone. Then throughout the rest of the night, they siphoned the cash up to the guys back in the roof through that one little shaft in the wall. Boom."
Stiles, Scott and Derek leaned against the table the blueprints were on. Peter and Bella were sitting down next to each other on the couch as they listened and observed the others.
"Can we fit in there?" Scott asked
'Yeah, we can. But very barely. And they patched the wall, obviously, so we're gonna need a drill of some kind. I'm thinking maybe a diamond bit..."
"Look, forget the drill "Derek said as he cut off Stiles
"Sorry?"
"If I go in there, how much space do I have?"
"What do you think you're gonna do, Derek? You gonna punch through the wall?" Stiles asked
Yes, Stiles. I'm gonna punch through the wall."
"Okay big guy. Let's see it. Let's see that fist. Big, old fist. Make it, come on. Get it out there. Don't be scared. Big bad wolf. Yeah, look at that. See this? That's maybe three inches of room to gather enough force to punch through a solid-ah!" Stiles taunted Derek before Derek punched his hand, making him fall to the floor in pain.
"I'll get through the wall. Who's following me down?" Derek asked as he looked at Peter
"Don't look at me. I'm not up to fighting speed, yet. And honestly, with Isaac out of commission, you're not looking at very good odds for yourself." Peter stated
"So we're supposed to just let them die?" Derek asked agitatedly
"One of them is already dead."
"We don't know that." Derek states
"Do I have to remind you what we're up against here? A pack of Alphas. All of them, killers. And if that's not enough to scare your testicles back into your stomach, try to remember that two of them combined bodies to form one giant Alpha. I'm sure Erica and Boyd were sweet kids. They're gonna be missed." Peter said as Stiles walked back to the table
"Could someone kill him again, please?" Stiles asked as he leaned o nthe table
"Derek, seriously? Not worth the risk." Peter stated
"What about you?" Derek asked as he looked in Scott's direction.
"Yeah, if you want me to come..." Stiles said, thinking that Derek was talking to him
:Not you>" Derek stated
"Got it" stiles said
"I don't know about Erica. But if Boyd's still alive, we have to do something. We have to try." Scott said
"But?" Derek asked, sensing Scott's reluctance
"Who's the other girl? The one locked in there with Boyd?" Scott asked
"There's someone else?" Bella asked as she leaned towards Peter
"Probably." Peter replied
Derek and Scott left and ran towards the bank. They went to the back of the fire escape.
"What?" Derek asked as he looked at Scott
"There's something I can't get ut of my head." Scott replied
"The moon's rising, Scott. What is it?" Derek asked
"Risk and reward." Scott said
"Which means what?" Derek asked
"We're not measuring the risk with enough information. We don't know enough." Scott said
"We know that time is running out." Derek stated
"Think about it. They put the triskele on your door four months ago. WHat have they been doing all this time? Why wait until now?" Scott asked
"We don't have the time to figure out every little detail."
"What if this detail, the reason why they waited, what if it's the most important one?" Scott asked
"Then we do nothing. And Erica and Boyd are dead. I know what I'm risking. My life for theirs." Derek said as he climbed the side of the building
Back at the loft, Stiles was there with Bella and Peter. Stiles was gazing out the window nervously, looking at hre full moon in the night sky while Peter was sitting on the couch with his eyes closed and Bella reading a book.
"I can't keep waiting around like this, you know?" Stiles said "It's nerve-racking. My nerves are racked. They're severely racked."
"I could beat you unconscious and wake you when it's over." Peter said
Bella stifles back a laughter .
"You think Erica's really dead?" Stiles asked
"You think I really care?" Peter said
"I just don't understand the bank, though. Like, why wouldn't they chain them up in some underground lair or something?" Stiles asked "They're an Alpha pack, right? Shouldn't they have a lair?"
"They're werewolves. Not Bond villains." Peter said
"Wait a sec." Stiles said "Maybe they're living there, you know? Like, maybe the bank vault reminds them of their little wolf dens."
"Oh god" Bella shook her head "Don't you ever stop talking, Stiles?"
"Nope" Stiles said
"Wolf dens?" said Peter
"Yeah, wolf dens." said Stiles "Where do you guys live?"
"In an underground network of caves hidden deep in the woods." Peter said sarcastically
"Woah, really?"
Bella practically burst into fits of laughter
"No, you idiot." Peter said "I have an apartment downtown."
"Does you seriously think that werewolves live like actual wolves" Bella asked Stiles sarcastically
"Okay, fine. But still, that just proves that there's something up at the bank." said Stiles "And why wait around for the full moon? Why not just kill them whenever they want to?"
"Maybe they think it's poetic" Peter said sarcastically
"They've already had three full moons to be poetic." said Stiles
"And here you've only had one full hour to be so annoying..." Peter stopped as he realizes something
"No, go ahead. Finish what you were saying." said Stiles "I'm annoying. What were you gonna say there?"
Peter sat up from the couch "What were the walls made of?"
"What?" Stiles asked as Peter got up from the couch and went back to the table to look at the plans "I don't know. Like wood and brick or..."
"No, the vault. The vault, the walls, what are they made out of? Where would it say that?"
Peter looked through the plans as Bella came up beside him "Where would it say the materials, the type of stone?"
"Hang on" said Stiles as he went through his bag "Here. It's gotta be here."
Stiles gave Peter some papers as he ruffled through it.
"What are you getting at, dad?" Bella asked
"Hold on." he said as he looked through the files.
After a moment, Peter found what the materials were made out of. "Hecatolite"
"Is that awful?" Stiles asked, "That sounds awful."
Peter had a worried look on his face "Get them on the phone. Call them. Now!"
"Okay, why?" Stiles said as he reached his phone
"'Cause Boyd and that girl aren't gonna kill each other. They're gonna kill Derek and Scott."
Stiles got Scott on the phone when Scott and Derek got into the vault
"Stiles, now is not the best time." Scott said
"No, listen to me. You gotta get out of there. Look, the walls of the vault are made with a mineral called Hecatolite. It scatters the moonlight."
"What does that mean?" Scott asked
"Look, it keeps the moonlight out/ They haven't felt the full moon in months." Stiles explained
"Okay, think of it like the gladiators in the Roman coliseum. They used to starve the lion for three days, making them more vicious, more out of control. Deucalion has kept them from shifting for three full moons, diminishing their tolerance of it." Peter explained quickly
"They're gonna be stronger" Stiles said
"More savage, more bloodthirsty. They're the lions. They're the starved lions, and you and Derek just stepped into the coliseum." Peter stated
"Derek, we have a problem. A really big problem." Scott said as the line went dead.